Are people inherently good or bad?

[AbsynthMinded]

People are possessed of a genetic imperative of radical self interest. Absent of a Social Framework which enforces a Ethical/Moral standard, radical self interest does not take into consideration anyone else's 'rights' or 'personal sovereignty'. Might makes right. Thus to determine Good/Bad we require some kind of established Framework with which we can evaluate facts on a case by case basis. A blanket statement of Bad or Good across humanity is never going to 'fit'.

[Epzaos]

Depends on their upbringing.

But they start at a blank slate(obviously) neither good nor bad.

[Skagens]

I'd say people aren't born good or bad, it depends on their upbringing and what kind of morals and ethics that are instilled in them. Seemingly good people with genuinely good intentions can be seduced by wealth or power, but to me that only shows a lack of morals and a weak will. It's a complicated subject since depending on the scenario, the line between good and bad is blurred.

[Deleted97377438User]

96% of people come into this world bad, with 40% turning good.

 

The 4% that come into this world good either die good or live long enough to turn bad.

[IcelandicPsychotic]

I think people are terminally flawed.

[Pagafyr]

Make believe?

 

Make believe!

 

Make believe.

 

Which is the write right rite way to think it?

 

The elder children, both girls and boys, got up from the room and left me alone in a room full of toys. They must have thought I could not be allowed to go with them while I sat there holding a baby water bottle and dressed only in a cotton diaper. I was barely able to crawl.

 

Traumatic experience being left totally alone long enough to begin to worry about my water bottle getting empty. That is; the psychiatrist says it is why I remember it so well.

 

Yeah! Could leaving me alone like that be construed as the other people being terminally flawed?

Or maybe... They were just a bit stupid, uneducated, that while they were gone I wouldn't do anything but sit there, barely able to crawl yet.

 

Mom wouldn't have approved of them leaving the building while she used the bathroom. So, I learned something that makes me, wonder!

 

Today I am sitting in a room full of toys and video gaming equipment with a bottle of water. Dressed in, and this is the only difference, a pair boxer shorts. While all my elders are GONE! GONE FOR GOOD!

 

Good thing I can manage to get food and water without another persons aide, or I might have sat there in the past until my bottle of water ran out of water, cried, and then got so dehydrated I could die.

 

Is that an example of people being terminally flawed? Or just STUPID?

[Oblivionaddicted]

People are generally more motivating at the idea of keeping all there flaws than at the idea of becoming better unless it is necessary for their own interest, they are far more motivated at the idea of influencing the others than at the idea of knowing igf their point of view is right, they are oftenly too naive or too manipulative and selfish.

[IcelandicPsychotic]

 

Is that an example of people being terminally flawed? Or just STUPID?

Flawed, I'd say. Can you blame a child for stupidity, however that is measured? I assume that none of those children wanted you to die, they just didn't consider the fact that you could. Children rarely do as they cannot comprehend scope. Even many adults have a problem with that. Because considering the scope of your actions is difficult and most people don't like difficulty. They like things easy. Responsibility can be scary. Improving and changing is hard, boring work. Some people put in the work and some people would, to put it bluntly, rather die.

[ScytheBearer]

People are neither inherently good nor bad. People are inherently self serving and selfish. People will do anything they feel is necessary to get what they want, when they want it. The effect that their actions have on others is what we perceive as good or bad.

 

Societal norms are what are supposed to prevent people from harming others in their efforts to obtains their desires. But alas, some people are not bound by those societal norms and take actions which harm others

And, as society breaks down during major events like war, drought, famine, or political and social upheaval, the norms which are supposed to discourage people from harming each other become blurred. People begin to feel that harming others in their drive to get what they want is justifiable.

 

And as individuals accept and justify the harming of others, whatever society exists will apply the label of "good" or "bad".

 

Remember always, morals and ethics are situational.

Edited September 20, 2022 by ScytheBearer

[Pagafyr]

I found an example of how people seem to be in this movie comedy "This is the End"

Or here's another movie comedy with another look at the ways we might turn out. "Blast from the Past" Christopher Walken

 

Not everyone is the same in any way. Good or Bad is not written in stone! It's a lot more about who raises you. Your parents/Grandparents/elder siblings (if you have any), other immediate relatives, that place which is called a day care center (used to be an orphanage where working parents left their children during the work hours, got taken in if parents died, or if deserted when they were too young to be out on their own), and the community. It's all about who raises you.